Project

What is cognitive science?

Cognitive science are developing for sixty years. It’s born from the connection of different fields such as neuroscience, psychology, artificial intelligent, linguistic and social sciences (phylosophy, anthropology …). Together, they study mechanisms of information creation and processing – human but also animal or artificial.

It describes the evolution and the structure of the brain and the mind by studying mental function like memory, language, perception or decision making.

It’s a interdisciplinary field very broad thanks to the diversity of the research field involved and in continual propagtion.

About Cogni'Junior

Why?

Cognitive science rise in our modern world and their application anchor this field in our daily life (serious games, motor and neurological rehabilitation, prosthesis, artificial intelligence, law again phone when driving …).

Scientific or popular idea about the brain and his functioning are spread in our daily life in the media, giving sometimes misunderstanding and without foundation myth (men and women differences, intelligence link to brain size, possibility of mind control…).

So, it is important to inform on what are cognitive science and their applications: after the digital generation, tomorrow society need to take this new knowledge over which influence today civilization. Our pedagogy give matter to bring a learning context to enable children to apprehend the world, a context that can hold future learning.

How ?

These stories are first created by students in cognitive science (and near field) then illustrated. The tale format enable us to bring scientific concept without complexity, in an intuitive way. To have drawing with the tale enable the reader to fix visual the knowledge.

We have for example created the story of Mimi the microglia, a immune cell traveling in the brain. The story is oriented on neurobiology. Other project are on the road, as Robi the robot, with which we can talk about the question of artificial intelligence in a semi applied and semi-philosophical way as a context to criticize and understand science fiction.

These stories are (and will be) online. Creation to interact with young public can be introduce during intervention in different structures (school, hospital, cultural center…), or during workshop around cognitive science. In the last one, alternating reading time and manual and motor activity give occasion to children to appropriate scientific concept and ask questions. Presence of Cogni’Junior team when general public outreach event (as Forum des Sciences Cognitives 2014 in paris) enable also to introduce our action to educator (parents and teachers).